asko

All appliance manufacturing operations from the Asko plant in Vara, Sweden, will be relocated to plants belonging to parent company Gorenje in Velenje, Slovenia. Asko research and development, brand management, and marketing operations will remain in Vara.

About 450 of 500 total Asko employees in Vara will lose their jobs when the manufacturing change is complete next year.

The Vara plant currently represents about 7% of Gorenje Group's total production output.

Gorenje reported that it performed analyses of potential Asko manufacturing configurations as well as negotiating with trade unions. It said it determined that consolidating Asko manufacturing in Velenje while keeping R&D, brand management, and marketing on Vara was the optimum solution.

Manufacturing will be moved from Vara to Velenje in two stages. Washing machine and dryer production will end in Sweden on January 31, 2013, and resumed in Velenje in April 2013. Dishwasher production will end in Sweden on June 30, 2013, and re-launched in Velenje in September 2013.

Gorenje Group acquired Asko in 2010 and said that, despite several initiatives intended to boost performance, Asko's results have consistently fallen short of expectations.

This does not deter me from putting ASKO on our shortlist of the brands to consider. Gorenje Pininfarina is solid group. All companies are scrambling for lower labor costs. Relocation of assembly plants poses no issues if the quality control is maintained. The test will be the products produced after the plant move.